Immaculate White Trunks
by S Girlie
Summary: Although Mello strives to surpass Near, when he discovers his inability to swim, he is unsure how to react. MelloxNear Yaoi oneshot


This is my very first Death Note fic, I am not sure if I will write more or if it will end with this one-shot, but I certainly enjoyed writing it. It's MelloxNear and fairly clean with the exception of a few naughty words and suggestions. I'd like to have some input, but I am not going to be a OMG-I-AM-GOING-TO-KILL-MYSELF-IF-YOU-DON'T-REVIEW-Nazi about it. If you like it, review.

Disclaimer- I don't own a Death Note.

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Mandatory physical education: The best damn thing to ever happen to me. Thoughts need not overwhelm me when I am running along side my peers. I do not have to worry about exams or education; although I confess the thought of Near does roam across my consciousness from time to time, it is not as frequent when I am exercising. I take comfort in the fact that this work is mandatory, meaning that no one is excluded from this work, not even the introverted Near. Frail and weak, it takes little effort to surpass him in such a course. It is a sweet victory, but not as fulfilling as a triumph of wit. I have yet to defeat him in such a way, but the small taste of success in PE is enough to subdue my anger. 

Today will be the first day of our swimming unit and I am already nibbling away on my chocolate bar with anticipation. The thought of Near swimming is completely absurd; he looks awkward enough in PE shorts, swimming trunks are bound to make me erupt in a fit of hysterical laughter. My own are a solid black in color, but when thinking of what Near may wear, the image of vibrant teal shorts with a magenta flower pattern comes to mind. I snort a bit, oh god... I have to be careful or I may choke on my candy bar. We have PE first period, so I put on my trunks in preparation along with a plain white shirt. I slap on some sunscreen, grab a towel, and head out the door. While debating whether or not to head over to Matt's room before class, I am approached by him in the hallway. I am not surprised, I tool a little more time than usual getting ready. Imagining Nero's swim trunks must have kept me an additional five minutes.

"Hey," Matt coolly greets me, his expression is blank with a trace of a grin. I nod, acknowledging his presence and we both walk off towards the locker room together. I glance down at his attire; he is wearing a pair of long stripped trunks with a black wife beater. His towel is orange tinted, like his signature glasses, it is slung over his shoulder. With his left hand he is gripping his PSP, which is covered by a plastic ziplock bag, immediately I know his intentions.

"Playing games in the pool isn't the brightest idea, Matt. That bag won't be enough to keep your PSP from being destroyed if you drop it."

"I'll take my chances," He grins, "I'm on the last boss and I have a feeling that the princess will be topless when I save her." I chuckle, shaking my head a bit.

"But if you destroy your PSP, there will be no princess to save." He reaches for the back of his head and sighs in an exaggerating manner.

"You're right. I guess I'll have to wait." I smile as our short talk comes to an end, we are then silent as we approach the locker room. We part our ways soon after entering, we were assigned lockers at the beginning of the year, I was 'lucky' enough to get a locker right next to my rival. Being forced to be around him while I dress is unbearable, it is fortunate that he dresses in the bathroom stalls like a pansy. Already wearing my shorts, I pull off my shirt and throw it into my opened locker; we have long passing periods, so I am sure that I will have time to dry before my next class. While closing my locker I catch a glimpse of Near walking slowly towards a vacant bathroom stall. I smile, I would examine him more thoroughly, but looking at his swim trunks before he has had the chance to put them on would ruin the moment. Grabbing my towel, I make my way out to the pool where a few students are already jumping into the pool and our instructor is watching them carefully.

I feel no need to jump in immediately, I'd like to watch other people's reactions to the water before I myself go in, this way I know whether or not I should brace myself for the cold water. While waiting, I walk around to the other side of the pool, where I can watch people entering the site. First comes a group of girls, chatting away and laughing obnoxiously; They walk towards the steps of the pool and linger, continuing to talk loudly. Next comes Matt, clutching his ziplock bag containing his PSP, the damn boy, he has absolutely no restraint. He look up, instead his attention is on the screen of his PSP; he seats himself at the entrance, I assume he is waiting for me.

People arrive in waves, but when they jump in the pool, their faces are either lowered or turned away, making it impossible to read their reactions. When I am about to simply give up and jump into the pool, Near walks into the pool area. It only takes a moment before he steals all my attention, well, I certainly wasn't expecting this. When he first walked in, I thought he was completely naked, but now I notice it is not the case, however those trunks are so short it's pretty damn close to naked. I shouldn't be staring, but I can't help it, all these questions are arising in my mind: Does Near shave? What lead him to wear such an scandalous article of clothing? Doesn't he have any shame? Does Near shave? Fuck, I can't even think clearly, those damn shorts are drilling their way into my memory. Already I can see them doing a little dance in my consciousness, those immaculate white trunks. I pull my head down and and try to get a grip, this isn't right, I can't let Near and his little trunks control me. I need to take advantage of the situation, he's the one who should be embarrassed, not me. Now I can either ignore him or degrade him, I think I will choose the latter.

I walk over to where he is nonchalantly, making sure Matt does not notice me, also I avoid looking at his trunks. Near is at the rim of the pool, gazing into the water with a blank expression on his face, like everything else, he must be indifferent to the idea of swimming. I'm sure he has never even attempted the activity. As approach him from behind, I get the impulse to take advantage of the situation; he is standing over the deep end and even if he was conscious of my presence, he could not over power me if I chose to push him in. Near struggling, I have never seen such a sight. Even when we are running laps, despite his difficulties keeping up with us, his expression never indicates distress. Surely this would generate such an emotion, it is possible he may even panic; while I am deciding on whether or not to take such an action, Near finally acknowledges my presence and turns around.

"Nice shorts." I sneer; he merely looks down at them and shrugs.

"I've never been swimming," he says in a monotonous tone, "Linda lent them to me. Compared to the other boys' shorts, they certainly look queer." He pauses for a moment and then continues, "Yes... a bit too much leg, but it does not bother me." This shouldn't have been surprising coming from a boy who walks around in pajamas all day, but I can't help being a bit upset. If I can't embarrass him, he'll continue to wear the trunks, which may lead to undesired homo-erotic thoughts on my part. Those damn trunks are still on my mind, though I refuse to look down on them, I can still see them clearly within my mind.

"Well I feel it is disturbing and I'm sure the others would agree," I fold my arms across my chest in order to appear intimidating, "I never want to see them on you again." He cocks his head to the side and stares into my eyes, making me feel a bit uncomfortable. Again, he pauses before speaking.

"Would you rather see me swim naked?" I am caught off guard completely by his response, there is little I can do to keep my face from heating up. I throw my arms to my sides in frustration, again with very few words has upset me.

Before I can register what has happened, my hands are pressed against his chest, pushing him backwards. He stumbles a bit on the rim of the pool before it is clear that he is going to fall, as I lower my hands, he grips onto my right hand, completely catching me by surprise. We cascade into the pool, I falling a bit to the right; I can feel water flowing up into my nose, burning the inside of my nasal cavity. I quickly rise to the surface, first I catch my breath and then I snort a bit and grip my nose in order to remove the water. After I these actions, I feel the shock wear off and I am filled with anger.

"Near, you little douche!" I punch the water, turning to look for Near, but he is no where to be found. This confuses me for a moment, but then I recall that he has never swam, I look down into the water; he is only a few feet away from me, struggling underneath the surface.

His expression is just as I imagined it, he looks completely frantic and helpless. His eyes are wide open and his limbs are moving in various directions, but despite all this activity, he remains suspended underneath the surface. My anger is short-lived, but I am questioning why this is not bringing me satisfaction. Here I have made Near experience powerlessness, something I never thought I would ever be able to witness. He is struggling and he appears to be scared, and yet I can not smile; there is even a part of me that wants to help him.

I shake my head rapidly, I am so confused, should I take an immediate action or simply swim away? If I am not content now, will I become guilty if anything is to happen to him from my lack of action? Surely I can not allow him to die, though his death, I will be incapable of defeating him. My urge to assist him becomes greater as I watch him struggle, I can tell that he does not have enough strength to wait until our instructor takes notice. A wave of anxiety flows through me and I am brought to dive in after him. I swim just below him and wrap my arms around his waist, I then propel him to the surface by kicking. Releasing him, I rise to the surface myself; I hear him coughing loudly, still unnatural to the water, he continues to struggle with keeping himself to above the surface.

"You are the worst swimmer I have ever met." I let out a sigh and grab onto his arm; upon this contact he immediately climbs up my limb with his arms and begins to cling to me desperately, still coughing and acting irrationally. I am a bit stirred up by his quick actions, but my body immediately treads faster in order to support the additional weight.

"Get me out of this pool, Mello." I have never heard such an urgency in his voice, his body is trembling against my chest; he must be terrified of the water. I feel terrible, who would have thought I would come to regret this action? I have no choice but to help him, my conscience is demanding it and my heart is thumping too frequently. I don't understand any of this, all this stress and confusion is making it difficult to analyze the situation. Nears grip becomes tighter and his legs wrap around me, I've got to get him out of here before he constricts me to death.

"Just calm down, alright?" I wrap an arm around him, "I'm not going to drop you, so you can loosen your grip." He tentatively relaxes, but he does not remove his legs from my waist; It embarrasses me a bit because I know we've already attracted the attention of a few people in the pool and also because he is a bit too close to my goods. We are already fairly close to the edge of the pool, the simplest action for me to take would be to bring him to it, most people are capable of lifting themselves out, but for some reason I have the strong desire to swim further, I want to hold on to him for a bit longer.

I swim towards the nearest ladder, it takes a great deal of strength keeping us both up, but I make it without too much strain. He is still clinging to me, I practically have to pry him off and force him to step up onto the ladder. When he does make contact with the step, he gets out quickly, but in that instant, I see up his shorts. Just great, I feel my entire face turning red; today has gone terribly. I've seen too much of Near and felt too much of Near, I suspect that this isn't just going to go away with a few strikes to the head either.

I get out of the pool right after him, lowering my head until I have seized control over my expression. When I look up, I see Near walking away. Though it may have been my fault for pushing him into the pool, I feel a bit insulted. I didn't have to help him, I could have merely left him to drown in his panicked state. He could have at least thanked me, the damn prick. I look around for Matt, he is easily spotted where he was last observed, playing his game near the entrance. From here I can see him grin madly at the screen and set the device down, just in the nick of time. I smile, walking towards him.

"Was she topless?" I comment, standing over him. He nods and gets up, taking a few steps towards the pool.

"You're wet," he comments, "You were swimming without me, I feel _so _betrayed." I shrug and and walk with him to the diving area.

"You can't dive with your PSP, idiot." I walk ahead of him, climbing up onto the ladder for the high dive. I dive for a while with Matt until I grow bored with the routine, then I simply wade in the shallows until it is nearly the end of class. All the while I have not seen Near since the incident, I am sure he has not come back to the water, perhaps he is hiding in the bathroom? Oh, it doesn't matter what he does, nothing that happens now will be my fault. He's out of the water, he doesn't need me to help him. The teacher calls every one in, but as I walk towards the exit, he pulls me aside and makes me wait until everyone has left. I already know he is going to scold me for pushing Near, there is nothing else I could have done that would have caused interaction between us.

As expected, he is angry and writes up a detention slip. I've never received a detention, but it does not upset me, I am only slightly disgruntled by the fact that he is taking up my dressing time, I won't have enough time to shower if he does not finish soon. When 5 minutes have elapsed, he lets me leave and I walk briskly to the dressing room, already most of the boys are leaving. I take a quick shower, wring out my shorts and put them back on, I then dry myself thoroughly and put on my shirt. By the time I start combing my hair, the locker room is empty; even the slowest of dressers have already exited. As I finish getting ready, I hear a set of foot steps coming from behind me. I turn around to see Near, thankfully, in his regular attire. His hair is completely dry and there are no signs of wetness, which confirms that he had not gone back into the pool. He walks towards his own locker and sets his stuff in quickly, closing it and then locking it. Sitting on the bench, I realize it is a bit bizarre of me to remain here. I am already ready to leave, and yet when I caught site of Near, I lingered with no purpose in mind. I get up and start towards the exit.

"Mello..." I hear him calling me from behind, I turn, slightly confused as to what he has to say.

"What?" He is still standing beside his locker, his fingers are caught up in his hair and he is not looking at me.

"Thank you." I simply nod and exit, but my actions do not parallel my thoughts, as they are far from simple. Everything that has happened has effected me deeply, I don't even think I'll be able to see him in the same way again. I've seen him behave in a human manner, with natural instincts and vulnerability, I've also seen him in skimpy white trunks. Today I have learned that even the strongest, most reserved people are not invincible. We all have our insecurities; I guess Near's happens to be pools. Though it may be a bit inwardly degrading, whenever Near scores better than me, I will try to remember those immaculate little trunks and what they represent to me, the humanity of Near.

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OO; I wonder if anyone will read this... thank you to those who have. 


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